Chapter 42: Attack on Kiten: Part 3 - The Diamond Kingdom Retreat

Name: Fransiska "Fani" Granvorka

Age: 20

Birthday: 19 December

Personality: Soft spoken, timid, gets easily embarrassed due to her high self-consciousness, however has a strong desire to protect

Strengths: Will always put the needs of others above those of herself, always delivers results, high battle IQ, versatile magic

Weaknesses: Low self esteem, highly self conscious

Favourite things: Books, tea parties with her father (she hasn't grown out of that phase), violins, gambling (just wait my friends)

In a squad as rough and corrupt as the Purple Orcas, how did someone like Fransiska get to be a Vice-Captain? It's simple, really.

As timid as she was, when she got over herself in the necessary moment that someone needed to act, she always delivered. That was one of the little things that she could take pride in. and now, when the three Blue Rose Knights were backed into a corner, she had arrived.

And she had delivered.

"Um, w-where should I p-put her?" Fransiska asked, turning towards the three girls. Lucia properly took her appearance in.

The first extremely noticeable feature about her was her hair—a gleaming, golden cascade that fell nearly to her ankles, with soft, feathered layers framing her face. The Purple Orca was quite short, standing barely over five feet, giving her an almost doll-like appearance. Her white blouse was adorned with delicate, frilly sleeves that peeked out from under a finely laced corset, giving her a prim yet elegant look. Over this, she wore a long, flowing purple dress that brushed the tops of her shoes, embroidered with subtle patterns along the hem. Perched on her nose were thin, round glasses, which she frequently adjusted with a delicate, nervous gesture. Draped over her shoulders was a navy blue cloak embroidered with the Granvorka family crest, a detailed design in silver thread that gleamed subtly beneath her official Purple Orcas robe.

"W-why are you a-all s-staring at m-me like that? I-it's embarrassing…" she muttered, blushing lightly. The three Magic Knights, who had been shocked into silence by this sheer display of power from this woman, suddenly burst into chatter.

"Your magic took a General of the Diamond Kingdom down so easily! You're really strong!" Lucia exclaimed, a wide smile on her face.

"You're suuuper cute!" Dana gushed. "And your fashion sense is simply adorable!"

"What do you use on your hair?" Elda asked, holding up one of Fani's long locks of hair. "It's so… shiny!" She staggered

Fani, who was not at all used to receiving this much attention, blushed even harder, hiding the rest of her face with her hair, only one spectacled eye in view. "T-thanks," she muttered shyly, a slight smile (that was covered by her hair) appearing on her lips. "A-and I don't r-really use anything on my h-hair, it messes with my m-magic… I wouldn't recommend touching it, it's draining mana from that lady right now…"

Elda listened to her explanation intently. "Interesting," she nodded. Her knees suddenly went woozy, and she sank to the ground.

Fani's face went redder than it had before, giving her a tomato-like appearance. She completely covered her face, hiding the tears building up in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said, painful memories welling up in her mind.

Hair Magic? Eww, that's lame.

It drains your mana when you touch it? What are you, some kind of freak?

P-put me down! Get your hair off of me, you weirdo!

Suddenly, she felt a hand worming through her hair and resting gently on her shoulder. It was Elda's, her pale blue eyes glinting with respect. "That mana draining definitely has a kick to it," she chuckled. "It's cool!"

Fani stammered out a thank you, the thoughts that once filled her head starting to dissipate.

"I don't think that there's anyone in this s-sector," the Granvorka said, flicking her hair to get it out of her face, Velda Thorn still ensnared in her hair's grip. "S-so, y-you can leave now." She turned away, about to leave when Lucia called out.

"Fransiska!"

Fani turned her head back, her hair gracefully gliding with the movement of her head. She didn't say anything, but her pale green eyes were a clear indication the Purple Orcas knight was listening.

"Thank you," Lucia simply said, her red hair bouncing gently as she gave the knight a smile.

Fani gave a small smile back to the three knights as they waved her off, cloak billowing in the wind, the Dame still in her grasp.

…

Zoe was still fighting the Holy Beryl Gospels, her blade made out of ink stained with sapphire dust. Likewise, Charlotte was still facing off with Iona, who showed no signs of slowing down.

The thing about Iona's spells is that not only was she crazy powerful, meaning that the Gospels scaled on her power as well, but she had ridiculously high reserves of mana, even compared to someone like Yuno or Rill. She also had a fighting sense honed by battle, which also translated over to the Gospels. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that they regenerated?

After her battle with Bellatrix and the humiliating defeat she had at that witch's hands, Iona had dedicated her time to training to improve herself. She believed that battle to be a divine revelation straight from God, that at her current state, she couldn't protect the Diamond Kingdom. She couldn't protect all of those men and women of the cloth that she was responsible for, and she couldn't safeguard a good future for everyone in her community.

So train she did. Her daily routine for those six weeks after the dungeon mission was to wake up at the crack of dawn, eat a meagre meal, train until well into the night, and go to sleep. She had put all her military duties on hold to better herself, because she was pious, and dedicated to her own betterment.

In short, this was looking more and more like an unwinnable battle for the Blue Rose knight.

"Why won't these guys just die, dammit!" Zoe yelled, veins popping out pf her forehead, her face starting to turn really red. "Curse you, Diamond Kingdom general! And curse these stupid regenerating soldiers!"

The Gospels did not reply, instead closing in on Zoe from all directions with eerie synchronisation, their sapphire swords gleaming in the evening light.

Zoe fell to one knee in exhaustion. She wasn't stupid, and she knew that she couldn't keep doing this.

But you know what she was? Proud and stubborn.

Our magic is based on desire. That's what her father had said to her, many years ago, when he gifted her her first paintbrush. For what is ink except a means to bring your hopes and dreams to life?

As haughty and overbearing her father was, he spoke wisdom at times. And now, due to her desire for more attack power, a new spell was born.

"Ink Magic," she hissed, "Abyssal Canvas."

Zoe dropped her paintbrush, and instead of a hollow clang, it melted into the stone beneath her feet, like ink soaking into parchment. A pulse of dark mana followed, spreading in tendrils, as if responding to her every desire. Her mana rippled, and a vast pool of black ink began to radiate outward, pooling across the ground in an ever-widening circle.

The Gospels took a step back, their unyielding formation finally broken. But it was too late—the ink surged with life, swallowing the battlefield in a dark, shimmering expanse. The holy soldiers waded through the thick ink, but its sticky, semi-solid texture clung to them like quicksand, pulling at their legs, holding them in place.

"Oh…would you look at that?" Zoe smirked. "I don't need a paintbrush."

Zoe once again drew the kanji for blade on the air with her finger, the ink trails etching into it like carvings on wood, not really knowing what boosts this new spell of hers gave her. Suddenly, many jagged blades of ink appeared from the ground around the sapphire soldiers. Three of them managed to block them mostly by summoning sapphire shields.

One was not so lucky.

As the first gospel slumped to the ground in a pile of sapphire dust that was eventually eaten into the ink, the black liquid syphoning the mana that Iona had used to hold it together, Zoe's eyes widened with delight, and her lips turned upwards in a twisted, sadistic grin. "Brilliant!" she yelled. "This is amazing!"

Zoe once again drew the kanji for blade. This time, however, the ink twisted and melded around her hand to become a katana with a black blade, finely crafted, and positively radiating power. It felt as natural in her hand as wielding a paintbrush, and as she rushed at the second Gospel, which could do nothing but writhe in something close to desperation as it tried to escape the clutches of Zoe's Abyssal Canvas, it was chopped into little pieces by Zoe's refined attacks, its fragments sinking deep into the abyss below

Her ink had one property it gained when using Abyssal Canvas: the ability to drain mana. The regeneration effect that the Cardinal had created by just pumping mana into the Gospels was coming undone. Zoe had turned the tide of the battle like the switching of one day to another.

This was what it meant to her to be a prodigy. This is what it meant to her to be Zoe Halcourt.

As Zoe rushed at the third Gospel, she drew the kanji for fire, engulfing it completely in flames and charring the sapphire warrior. The Gospel tried to shield itself with a sapphire wall to no avail, and as Zoe rushed at it, the flames finally letting up, it threw a sapphire spear at her, which the ink mage nimbly sidestepped and knelt cleanly into an upwards diagonal slash. Zoe, her cast speed boosted incredibly by the ink, used another finger to draw the kanji for thunder, sinking her blade into the ground and using two bolts of black lightning to electrocute and disintegrate each half of the Gospel.

As she advanced upon the last one, an eerie calm in her stare, she drew her paintbrush from the ground again. She walked calmly around the immobilised gospel, drawing a line of ink on the air as she encircled the sapphire soldier like a vulture watching its prey. The Gospel sunk its sword into the ground, trying to use the same freezing spell that it had used before to cover the area of Kiten they were in to disrupt the ink's control over it, however, a lot like every spell that the Gospels had used to try and slow Zoe down in the Abyssal Canvas, it didn't work.

As Zoe finished tracing the large circle of ink, returning to her start point, she raised her paintbrush, pointing it at the last Gospel like she was an executioner.

"Ink Magic," she whispered, "Piercing Shadows."

CRACK

As the last Gospel dissipated and she deactivated her Abyssal Canvas spell, dropping to one knee due to the toll the spell had taken on her, Zoe heard a slow clapping sound from somewhere above her. It was Lars, naginata strapped to his back, a wide grin on his face. "Remind me not to make an enemy of you," he remarked, a glint of admiration in his eyes, "because that was amazing."

"Get out of here, Lars," Zoe said, turning her head away from him, her black hair gliding slowly as she walked. "I don't want to sour my flawless victory by gazing upon your twisted visa-"

As Zoe was about to finish her sentence, she stumbled and fell due to pure exhaustion. She had used up nearly all of her mana fighting the Gospels, as her new spell, as powerful as it is, was highly energy inefficient.

So now Lars had a dilemma. He could leave the ink mage collapsed on the floor, which would definitely land him in big trouble with the Blue Roses as a collective, even Lucia, or he could carry her back to somewhere safe, which could make Lucia slightly jealous depending on the manner he carried her until he explained, and would definitely land him in big trouble with Zoe, again, the degree of trouble he was in depending on the manner he carried her.

"I'll take my chances," Lars groaned, and jumped down from his perch, hoisting Zoe over his shoulders and walking off.

As he made his way through the narrow streets, Lars glanced over his shoulder. "Hey, Zoe," he murmured, "don't you dare say I didn't do anything nice for you."

She mumbled something incoherent, head lolled against his shoulder, her eyes barely opening as she muttered, "Just don't… drop me… twinkle-toes."

He chuckled, adjusting his grip on her. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Lars kept moving toward safety, weaving between alleys and ducking behind rubble as the echoes of Charlotte and Cardinal Veska's battle continued to rumble in the distance.

…

The tension in Kiten thickened as Captain Charlotte sliced her way through the remaining Diamond Kingdom forces. Her movements were swift and precise, her Briar Magic weaving vines that ensnared and subdued her opponents. Amid the chaos, the usually stern and commanding general of the Diamond Kingdom's troops noticed the growing disadvantage. Her forces were tiring, morale was faltering, and her heart, usually so steely, felt a pang of anxiety for her soldiers.

"Cardinal!" Charlotte called out, her voice cutting through the sounds of clashing metal and magic. Her tone was unyielding but carried an unusual note of understanding. "Don't throw your soldiers' lives away. You're outmatched and outnumbered. Surrender now and minimise the bloodshed."

Iona's eyes narrowed as she gazed at Charlotte, her grip tightening around her weapon. "I swore an oath to lead them to victory. We do not retreat easily." But as she spoke, there was a hint of vulnerability, a rare glimmer of doubt. She looked past Charlotte to the battlefield, where her men struggled and fell one by one at the hands of her Corpse Hunting Briar Tree. The reality of the situation weighed on her heavily, her instincts as a leader now at war with her loyalty to her kingdom.

Suddenly, a soft, verdant glow emanated from a nearby tree, which unfurled a massive branch shaped like a horn. The bark pulsed as a calm yet resonant voice echoed through the battleground.

"All Magic Knights stationed in Kiten, this is Captain William Vangeance of the Golden Dawn. Most Diamond Kingdom forces have been defeated and are in retreat. Pull back and regroup; further pursuit is unnecessary. Our objective has been secured."

Iona froze, her stoic mask momentarily slipping as the message sank in. The Diamond Kingdom's main forces… defeated?

A silent conflict brewed within her. She couldn't shake her instinct to protect the lives of her soldiers, despite knowing the dire consequences of a retreat. She clenched her jaw, the weight of her responsibility pressing down on her. Looking up, she met Charlotte's gaze.

"Consider yourself fortunate, Captain Roselei," Iona said coldly, but with a shadow of resignation in her voice. "This is not the last you'll see of me—or the Diamond Kingdom."

Charlotte raised her head, a faint smile playing on her lips. "I'll be waiting. But for now, go. Take your people back while you can."

Without another word, Iona raised her arm, signalling to her remaining soldiers. One by one, they began to pull back, retreating, where their injuries and exhaustion would be tended to, far from enemy eyes.

…

"Lucia!" Lars yelled, waving to his redheaded girlfriend, Zoe still hanging limply on his back. The Blue Rose Knight was at first happy to see him, and she ran to give him a peck on the cheek, but her expression soon shifted to one of concern when she saw the passed out Halcourt on his back.

"What happened? Did she get injured? Oh god, I hope she's ok," Lucia muttered, searching through her Tarot Deck to find a card that might heal Zoe.

"She's just making a big deal out of running out of mana," Lars replied, waving a hand. "You'd think she's never run out of mana before." Lucia retracted her cards and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's because she hasn't," a voice said. It was the voice of Captain Charlotte, with Dana and Elda behind her.

"Lucia, since Zoe has run out of mana currently, the plan is to rest in Kiten for a night and then head off early in the morning. We will be in this hotel," Charlotte said, handing a piece of paper to Lucia. "If you can't find us, just trace our mana signatures."

"No worries, Captain," the redhead replied, giving her captain a clover salute as she walked off. She then turned to Lars.

"Lars… I've been thinking. Even though it's been basically a month since we started dating, we haven't really gone on a date, if you know what I mean. I was thinking, when are you free this month?" Lucia queried, her green eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"This weekend, actually," Lars replied. He liked the sound of where things were going.

"Should we go out then?" Lucia asked, leaning closer to Lars. On the mind mage's back, Zoe began to stir.

"What…" she muttered, rubbing her eyes.

Lars dropped the ink mage, letting her go from his back, and she landed on the floor with a THUNK.

"What the hell was that for?" Zoe yelled, clearly quite pissed at this rude awakening.

"You see," Lars started, "if I let you down normally, you'd be pissed. And you're pissed now, so what's the difference? You'd find a reason to hate on me anyways…"

Zoe huffed and stormed off, not willing to concede that Lars was in fact correct.

"As I was saying," Lars said. "I'm free this weekend. Let's go out then."

Lucia, who was slightly mortified at the whole exchange between Zoe and Lars, shook her head, returning to her usual cheerful demeanour.

"Yeah… sure, why not? I think I'm free this weekend," Lucia smiled.

"Make it a double date," Kian said, seeming to come out of nowhere. "Me and Lyra somehow haven't gone on a date either."

"Kian, what did I tell you about jumping into other people's conversations," Lyra sighed, pulling the force mage by the ear.

"That hurts, Lyra!" Kian whined, trying to get out of the insect mage's grip.

Lucia, her patience slightly wearing thin from the current interruptions, asked, "And who are you guys?"

Lars chuckled. "I should probably introduce you guys. The boy with the glasses and whose ear is currently being pulled is Kian Voss, and the girl with the sea green hair and doing the pulling is Lyra Nocturne. They're both good friends of mine from a mission we went on a long time ago."

Lucia, all previous animosity towards the two gone, stuck out a hand in greeting. Lyra returned the favour, but Kian was too busy writhing in pain to do anything.

"Sorry about him. He's just such a free spirit that someone has to keep him on a leash, or else he might fly away with the wind and never come down," Lyra said, releasing the wincing Kian, who rubbed his ear. Lucia hastily assured her that it was alright, even though she was confused and a little bit afraid of the imposing insect mage in front of her.

"So anyways, double date?" Lyra asked. "Is that fine with you?"

Lars, who had been watching this whole exchange silently, finally spoke up. "Yeah, no worries," he chuckled, waving a dismissive hand. "As long as milady is okay with it."

Lucia giggled, evidently enjoying the special treatment she was getting from Lars. "No objections."

"Then it's settled!" Kian proudly declared. "See you in Kikka!" The force mage activated Acceleration and ran off.

"Hey, wait for me!" Lyra said, activating Moth Wings and flying behind Kian.

"Did she just grow a pair of insect wings? Never seen anyone with that type of magic be-mmf!" Lucia said, before she was cut off by Lars kissing her on the lips; an unexpected gesture, but one she appreciated nonetheless. The two melted into each other's arms, and for that moment, there were no Blue Rose Knights, no Coral Peacocks, no Diamond Kingdom invasion, no responsibilities. It was just the two of them.

Lucia broke from the kiss, breathing heavily. "You've never kissed me like that before," she said, a teasing grin on her face, her green eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Apologies," Lars replied, blushing and scratching his head, his usually confident demeanour gone. "It's just… you looked so cute and I couldn't restrain myself…wait, that sounds really creepy. I'm sorry…"

"I know what you meant," Lucia said, still slightly breathless. "Don't worry about it. Besides… I liked it."

They shared another kiss again, this time much more brief than the first one, and Lars now nodded to her, signalling that he had to go. "See you this weekend, then," Lars said, smiling and running off.

Needless to say, that evening Lucia walked back to the hotel with a spring in her step.

…

"You heard Captain Vangeance, Oda," Theresa said, shaking a sleeping Oda, "you can release everyone in Wraith's Haven now. The attack is over."

Oda slowly opened his eyes, stretching and yawning. "Jeez, you don't have to rattle my brains, Tess," the spatial magic user said, cracking his knuckles. "Spatial Magic: Wraith's Haven - open."

A large, swirling dark blue portal appeared in front of the two. First came out Lilian, who then motioned to the rest of the people within the portal to come out, then Russell, who was flanked by various civilians of Kiten. The Dust Magic user came up to Oda, a grin of admiration on his face.

"That is one powerful spell," Russell said. "And I really like what you've done with the place in terms of decoration. But seriously, even the most skilled spatial magic users couldn't make a spell like that! How have you, of all people, managed it?"

"You flatter me, Russell," Oda chuckled dryly, knowing that despite his senior's choice of words, he meant no harm. "It's just a bit of advanced physics. I thought education would be the thing that could get me out of poverty, so I studied. I just applied a lot of the knowledge I had about spatial magic and physics to this spell. Oh yeah, and I practised."

The Spatial Magic user sighed, obviously quite tired. "The thing is, it takes up a lot of mana to maintain this, so I'm done for the day. Can't even cast a basic teleportation spell."

"I think I can help with that," Lars said, smiling like he knew something Oda didn't.

"When did you get here?" Russell said, fist bumping Lars. "And why'd it take you so long?"

"I obtained a few things from a friend and dropped a knocked out friend off," Lars replied, like he did this every day (he basically did, but still). "I was originally gonna eat them but since we need to get home, I guess I'll give them to you."

He handed a small bag to Oda, who took it with some hesitation. "Eat," Lars insisted, as Oda unwrapped the bag to reveal an assortment of pastries and other types of bread. Tentatively, the spatial magic user took a bite into one, and suddenly, he felt mana beginning to flow through his veins again.

"What is this?" the spatial magic user asked, a grin spreading across his face from the pure delight the food gave him. "This is delicious!"

He began to gobble down each pastry ravenously, and as he did, his mana was restored almost completely. Right on cue, Ximena and Kirsch also arrived, the former riding on a moving bed of earth, and the latter kneeling on a gliding bed of cherry blossoms. Kirsch descended gracefully, and Ximena, as rough as ever, used a self-created wall of earth to stop her momentum.

"The great Ximena has returned!" the Earth magic user proudly declared, earning a few raised eyebrows and sighs from the Coral Peacocks currently present. "That surge of mana made it easy to find you lesser beings!"

"Lesser beings? How much has your head swelled over the past few months?" Russell snarled back at her, very done with her bullshit.

"Say that again, dust boy," Ximena replied, creating earth around her fist, ready to fight Russell, who unsheathed his rapier. The tension looked ready to boil over until Lilian stepped in.

"Prism Creation Magic: Spectrum Chains," she sighed, as multiple small prisms began to appear around Russell and Ximena, refracting the evening light to create chains, restraining the two.

"Lilian? What is this witchcraft?" Ximena exclaimed, struggling against the refracted restraints. "How am I being restrained by mere light?"

"Unhand me, woman!" Russell yelled, trying to worm his way out of the chains to no avail.

The normally gentle prism magic user's irritation finally got the best of her, and she knocked both of the miscreants over the heads, a tic mark appearing on her forehead.

"Won't you both just shut up?!" she yelled, as the whole squad, even Kirsch (because he was too busy admiring himself in a window) fell silent as Lilian continued her rant. "Ximena, you haven't even been here for a whole day and I'm ALREADY tired of you! Russell was right, you DO need to deflate your ego! On the topic of Russell, why the hell do you have to be so goddamn annoying all the bloody time? When we were in there, your horrible singing and incessant humming nearly drove us all mad! Honestly, I'd rather listen to a pack of howling wolves than hear another verse from you!" Lilian finished with a huff, crossing her arms as her Spectrum Chains tightened, making both Ximena and Russell wince.

Russell smirked despite his predicament. "At least my singing has soul! I'm pretty sure your chains here are just afraid of my beautiful voice."

Ximena rolled her eyes and tugged at the restraint around her wrist. "Beautiful? You sound like a cat caught in a windstorm. And you," she said, nodding toward Lilian, "don't need to mother us. I don't see a leadership badge on that fancy prism cloak of yours."

Lilian took a deep breath, clearly still irritated but finding some humor in the situation. "Listen, I may not have a badge, but right now, I have the patience of a saint. Now, if you two are done behaving like children, I'll release you so we can focus on what we're actually here for. And, for the record," she added, pointing a finger at Ximena, "you're supposed to be helping—not proving who has the biggest ego."

She released the chains with a flick of her wrist, and both Russell and Ximena stretched out, muttering under their breath. Oda, who had finished devouring the pastries, cleared his throat, grinning as he watched the exchange.

"Man, the team spirit is really something," he said, sarcasm thick in his voice. "Now that I've got my mana back, I'll teleport us all back to base… if, you know, there aren't any objections from our dear, esteemed teammates." He flashed a look at Ximena and Russell, who both gave reluctant nods.

"Fine," Russell muttered, sheathing his rapier. "But if I hear one more squeak from that rock-bashing egoist over there—"

"Just try me, dust boy," Ximena snapped back, but with a slight grin tugging at her lips. Lilian raised her eyebrows at them, clearly ready to summon the chains again at the first sign of trouble.

As Oda conjured the portal, Kirsch finally spoke up, apparently having finished admiring himself. "If I may, I believe this little incident has shown us all just how... essential the presence of beauty and grace is in times of stress." He adjusted his Coral Peacocks robe with a flourish. "Allow me to bestow my own inner harmony upon you all as we return."

Everyone collectively groaned, but Oda chuckled and shook his head. "On that note—hold tight, everyone."

The portal glowed and swirled in front of them, as the Coral Peacocks were teleported back to their base - their home.

…

It was late at night, and Lars and Sharya were talking to each other about the events of the day.

"Oh yeah, so Kian has a sister, right, and she uses this magic called Tempest Magic, which is pretty cool. It's a bonafide hybrid of wind and lightning magic," Lars said, recollecting his meeting with Vivianne with the air of an old warrior recounting his battles.

"Tempest Magic is cool and all, but why is it so different from Kian's Force Magic?" Sharya asked, polishing a throwing knife that gleamed in the dim light.

Lars smiled, like he had been waiting for this question. "So basically, Kian said something about his genes being "mix and match" or something like that. You know that in everyone that has magic, there's a gene that determines what magic you inherit from your parents, right?"

The blue haired girl nodded, and Lars continued. "Genes can either be recessive or dominant, meaning that if a magic gene is dominant, the child is more likely to inherit that magic. In Kian's case, both his parents had recessive genes, so it was kind of a toss-up between the two. In most of these cases, the kid will get half of one gene and half of the other. Vivianne, that's Kian's sister by the way, got the "literal" half of each gene, meaning she got Tempest Magic. While Kian got the "abstract half" taking the ideas of air resistance and magnetism, contact and non contact forces, meaning he got Force Magic. Basically, he got really lucky."

"So you gave me that roundabout explanation just to say his magic was pure luck," Sharya said, unimpressed. "All the buildup and for what?"

"I know, but I REALLY wanted to deliver a biology lesson," Lars sheepishly replied, scratching his head. Suddenly, Lars heard a scratching at the window. Sharya motioned to get up but Lars held up a hand. "I'll see what it is," he insisted, as Sharya sank back down onto her resting position on the couch.

As Lars approached the window, he saw a beautiful white owl, the type emblazoned on the Mertens crest.

"Blanca," he whispered, happy to see his childhood pet again. He walked up to the owl, extending a hand to stroke her. She cooed gently, clearly enjoying the attention she was getting, and nudged Lars's hand, beckoning him to see what was inside her beak.

The mind mage's blood ran cold. In its beak it held a piece of parchment with a red ribbon.

In the Mertens family, white owls were used specifically to send messages to family, an honour Ellion had reserved for his family and his family alone. A purple ribbon meant it was from Frida, a blue ribbon meant it came from his mother, a yellow ribbon his uncle Viktor, and a red ribbon…

A red ribbon meant it was a message from his father. His father who he hadn't seen in 8 years.

Lars Mertens had a lot of questions, and tomorrow, they were going to be answered, whether Ellion Mertens liked them or not.

As he walked back into the common room, piece of parchment in hand, Sharya stood up, coming to face him. "What was that about?" she asked, slightly worried for her good friend.

"Tomorrow," Lars said, "I answer one burning question. Good night, Sharya."

With that, Lars left a very confused Copy Magic user standing alone in the Coral Peacocks common room, the faint hoot of a white owl the only noise that was heard, echoing through the night.

A/N: If you didn't like this one, you're gonna LOVE the next chapter. The plot twist had me laughing like the Joker when I wrote it.